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An Ordinary Jesus
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 24th April 2005
The Revd Dr John LeMond
Acts 7:55-60; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14
The story that we read in the Gospel of John today is one of revelation. Jesus is telling his disciples something extremely important about his identity. The disciples have been with Jesus for quite a while now, but for some reason they still don't seem to recognize him.
I think that happens to all of us from time to time. Sometimes, after being someone's friend for a very long time, we think we know them very well. Then, suddenly, they reveal to us something that we didn't know, and we are so surprised by what they tell us that we can't believe it at first. We don't hear what they are saying to us, or at least we don't want to hear what they are saying, because it changes our relationship to that person. We don't want to accept the new reality that is being revealed.
That's the way it was with Jesus' disciples. He wanted to tell them something very special about his identity, but they didn't want to hear it. Jesus said to his disciples that he was going away to prepare a place for them, and that they would know the way to get to that place. Thomas said, "Of course we don't know the way. How could we possibly know?" So, Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life."
This is a very beautiful passage of Scripture, but it is also very disturbing. For the disciples, who were Jews, there was only one Truth, there was only one Life, there was only one Way, and that was God: Yahweh. So Jesus' words were totally confusing to his disciples. They couldn't make sense of what he was saying. Their Father God was a God who was mighty and powerful; the Father God was the king above all kings. But this was Jesus they were talking to, not the Father God. In fact, he was not God at all, he was just…Jesus. Yes, they believed that he was an unusual leader; he was certainly mysterious, out of the ordinary. But God?
Imagine that you are having a meal with a friend, and the friend says to you: "I'm going to Beijing tomorrow, because I'm the president of China. I have several apartments there, and there's plenty of room for you. Why don't you come up and spend a few days, and we can see the sights of the city together." How would you respond? The idea that your friend is actually the president of China would be too ridiculous to comment on. So you might respond, "What? You have apartments in Beijing?" "Yes," your friend would say, "I have apartments in Beijing. You know where they are. Why don't you come and spend a few days?" But you would respond, "How could I possibly know where your apartments are?" Your friend replies: "Of course you know. Everyone knows. "They are in Zhongnanhai: the residence of China's senior leaders. I'm the president of China. Where else would my apartments be?" Such a conversation would leave us confused, and no doubt a little worried about our friend.
Jesus' disciples were no less confused and worried. Their friend had just said to them: "I am God." "You have seen God," Jesus says. "In fact, you are looking at God right now." Philip responds, "Really!? Show me where God is!" Philip looks around him and what does he see? He sees Thomas; he sees Jesus, he sees the other disciples. He sees the ordinary things of life all around him. He sees the table with plates and bowls and food and wine; he sees chairs, and rugs on the floor. But he doesn't see the Father God. He is confused…and perhaps disappointed. Jesus has just promised him something miraculous, and all he sees around him are ordinary things. In the middle of all these ordinary things…where is God?
One of the most enjoyable parts of being a seminary teacher is getting to know the students. They are a profound blessing to me. So it is very difficult when we receive bad news about one of our students. Early one school year, one of our new students, Stephen, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He was only 21 years old, and the tumor was located in an area of the brain that was very difficult to treat. When the tumor was discovered, Stephen remained hopeful, but many around him asked: Why him? He is so young. Why has God done this? Has God abandoned Stephen? God promises to be with us always…where is God now? Many people at that time looked for God in vain. They could see only the ordinary things of life: the doctors, the other people in the hospital, the buses and cars on the street, the tables and chairs of Stephen's small flat. But where was God? Like Thomas and Philip who came before them, they were confused.
We expect to see God in the miraculous, in the extraordinary. Perhaps Thomas and Philip expected to see a burning bush, or to hear the voice of God speaking out of the noise of thunder. But God was actually sitting beside them all along, in the midst of the ordinary.
Soon after Stephen's diagnosis was confirmed, students gathered with him to pray: a group of ordinary people, sitting in ordinary chairs, in an ordinary building. They sang ordinary Christian hymns, they spoke everyday words of encouragement, they prayed ordinary prayers. But in the midst of that ordinariness…God was present. As they placed their hands on Stephen's head and back and shoulders, the Lord Jesus stood among them. The one who revealed himself to the disciples so many years ago as God, stood among them, and God's hand was laid on Stephen's body as well.
A miracle did, in fact, take place in that gathering. Not that Stephen was miraculously cured, or that God the Father spoke to those gathered there out of a bright light, or that the people saw a stunning vision of Jesus. It was, instead, a miracle of love that occurred: ordinary words, ordinary prayers, ordinary songs became miraculous. The miracle of God's presence was experienced through the warm physical touch of God's people.
We all, from time to time, look for miracles in our life. Jesus says to us, "Look to me." "Where you see me, you see the Father." But where is Jesus? All we see around us are ordinary people living ordinary lives. And that is where Jesus meets us; that is where God meets us: in the ordinary. The ordinary touch of a loved one; ordinary words of encouragement and hope; the ordinary help of a friend/or of a stranger; the ordinary prayers of a child; the ordinary wisdom of an elder in the faith; in the everyday elements of bread and wine. In these our Savior God comes to us.
In these we are reminded that it is every day that Jesus meets us. Jesus said to his disciples, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God…trust also in me." Trust that I am with you always…even in the most marvelously ordinary ways.
Amen
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